NARRATIVE EXPLORATIONS OF CARE: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF CAREGIVING IN THE CONTEXT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND CANCER

Abstract Embracing the “narrative turn,” we used the post-modern and feminist informed research methodologies of narrative inquiry alongside photo elicitation to co-create an in-depth cancer family caregiver narrative with a 50-year-old daughter who cared for her mother (age 80) affected by lifelong schizophrenia and recent metastatic breast cancer. The participant was invited to share personal photos to support her in co-creating a caregiver narrative within the narrative interview environment. While these photos were not analyzed for content, they prompted the participant to share stories about her private caring experiences and make meaning of them. The I-statements of these stories were then used to create a research poem which explores a life lived alongside a parent with mental health issues, while highlighting the transformation and healing potential that life-limiting cancer introduced to their complex relationship affected by mental health barriers. The I-Poem rendering was analyzed for cognitive and emotional meaning resonant of the human experience. Emergent thematic threads of personal humanistic values include altruism, love, and forgiveness. Additionally, this I-Poem analysis contributes to new knowledge situated in human story telling while capturing a transformational personal experience of caring as an exemplar which resists discrimination and disunity among older persons and their family caregivers on the basis of mental health with concomitant serious illness.


MUTUAL INFORMATION OF NEUROIMAGES AND GENETIC VARIANTS TO STUDY THE DETERMINANTS OF BRAIN AGING
Nicholas Kim, Anar Amgalan, Phoebe Imms, Nahian Chowdhury, Nikhil Chaudhari, and Andrei Irimia, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States Understanding the genetic determinants of brain aging is important because advanced biological age of the brain is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD).Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genetic variations with effects on brain aging; mapping their influence on brain structure can elucidate the genetic correlates of AD.We adopted an information theoretic approach to this by computing the mutual information (MI) between (A) 22 AD-risk SNPs and (B) the MRI intensities of the cortex in 6,000 UK Biobank participants (~50% females) aged 54 to 84 years.These cortex-wide calculations quantified how SNPs impact brain structure.As expected, the APOE-ε4 allele, the strongest genetic risk factor for AD, exhibited significantly (p < 0.025) higher MI with MRI intensity, when compared to the average MI expected for a null distribution model, in the medial parietal lobe, pars orbitalis, and left inferior occipital lobe, three brain structures responsible for memory recall, language processing, and visual perception.These findings reflect the memory loss, decreased speech, and reduced peripheral vision experienced by individuals with AD.The ABCA7 allele, a risk factor for late-onset AD, had significantly (p < 0.025) higher MI in the inferior temporal sulcus and angular gyrus.These structures are responsible for visual recognition and attention, two functions that are severely impaired by AD.Other findings reveal similar relationships between AD-risk SNPs and brain structure.Our findings illustrate how mapping the MI between MRI intensities and SNPs provides insight into genetic influences on brain structures linked to AD symptoms.

NARRATIVE EXPLORATIONS OF CARE: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF CAREGIVING IN THE CONTEXT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND CANCER
Charlotte Weiss 1 , Rachel Johnson-Koenke 2 , Karen Sousa 2 , Connie Ulrich 1 , and Karen Hirschman 1 , 1. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States,

University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States
Embracing the "narrative turn," we used the post-modern and feminist informed research methodologies of narrative inquiry alongside photo elicitation to co-create an in-depth cancer family caregiver narrative with a 50-year-old daughter who cared for her mother (age 80) affected by lifelong schizophrenia and recent metastatic breast cancer.The participant was invited to share personal photos to support her in co-creating a caregiver narrative within the narrative interview environment.While these photos were not analyzed for content, they prompted the participant to share stories about her private caring experiences and make meaning of them.The I-statements of these stories were then used to create a research poem which explores a life lived alongside a parent with mental health issues, while highlighting the transformation and healing potential that life-limiting cancer introduced to their complex relationship affected by mental health barriers.The I-Poem rendering was analyzed for cognitive and emotional meaning resonant of the human experience.Emergent thematic threads of personal humanistic values include altruism, love, and forgiveness.Additionally, this I-Poem analysis contributes to new knowledge situated in human story telling while capturing a transformational personal experience of caring as an exemplar which resists discrimination and disunity among older persons and their family caregivers on the basis of mental health with concomitant serious illness.

Korean Human Resource Development Institute for Health and Welfare, Osong, Chungcheong, Republic of Korea, 3. Yong-In Arts & Science University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
The purpose of this study is to comprehensively investigate and analyze the process of revising the careworker curriculum in South Korea with a primary focus on augmenting practice competencies.This research involved an analysis of the existing 240-hour curriculum, complemented by a comprehensive literature review.Additionally, Focus Group Interviews were conducted with a cohort of 20 present careworkers to effectively identify the prevailing needs within the practice field.This study expanded the curriculum duration from 240 to 320 hours.Subsequently, pilot courses were executed, incorporating enhanced content related to dementia care, humanity in caregiving, and infectious disease management.These modifications were delivered via webinars to 64 active care workers, a method chosen due to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.This study employed a pre-post design to inquire about the perceptions of older adults and their job skills.Fifty-four female care workers (84.2%) and eleven male care workers (15.8%) participated in the study, with an average age of 52 years, experiencing 3 years and 8 months.This study examines age-related differences in the perceptions of control and goal orientation among younger adults (ages 18-35) and older adults (aged 60+).A cohort of 57 younger adults and 51 older adults were exposed to a series of emotionally evocative videos portraying diverse scenarios involving varying levels of control and distinct growth or preservation goals.Participants evaluated perceived control, growth orientation, and preservation orientation using 10-point Likert scales.Our findings reveal significant disparities between the two age groups.Older adults exhibited diminished perceptions of control across all videos (p < .001)compared to their younger counterparts.Conversely, younger adults consistently displayed a heightened sense of growth orientation across the videos (p < .001),without significant age-based variations in perceptions of preservation goals.These outcomes contribute to our comprehension of developmental trajectories in perception and relevance appraisal, along with emotion evaluation.Our hypothesis

NAVIGATING LIFE'S PHASES: CONTROL PERCEPTIONS AND GOAL ORIENTATION IN YOUNGER AND OLDER AGE GROUPS Ryan
Muskin, Eric Allard, and Sachin Suri, Cleveland State  University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States